Tucson's golden hour is short, specific, and worth planning around. The times below are computed live for Tucson's exact coordinates (32.2217, -110.9265) and update automatically for any date you pick — sunset, sunrise, golden hour and blue hour, all in local time. Note the times below account for Tucson's latitude — golden hour runs longer in winter and shorter at midsummer than most charts assume.
The month-by-month table below is in this city's own local time. The live times above follow your device's timezone. Mountains, ridgelines and buildings can shorten the usable window — scout your horizon.
Local tip: Find an open west-facing view for sunset and an east-facing one for sunrise — buildings and hills eat the last 15 minutes of light in most city centers.
Golden hour in Tucson is the hour before sunset — and sunset here runs from 5:18 PM in November to 7:34 PM in June. The table below gives the exact window for every month, in Tucson's own time zone.
Use the live times above for today's exact window. As a rule, evening golden hour in Tucson starts about 36 minutes before sunset and ends at sunset. In June that is 6:55 PM – 7:31 PM; in December it is 4:43 PM – 5:20 PM.
Sunset in Tucson is earliest at 5:18 PM on November 28 and latest at 7:34 PM on June 24, a swing of about 2 hours across the year.
Golden hour lasts about 36 minutes in midsummer and 37 minutes in midwinter. The longest evening golden hour falls in December at about 37 minutes; the shortest is in March at about 32 minutes.
| Month | Sunrise | Sunset | Golden hour (evening) | Length | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:24 AM | 5:41 PM | 5:05 PM – 5:41 PM | 36 min | 10h 17m |
| February | 7:05 AM | 6:10 PM | 5:36 PM – 6:10 PM | 34 min | 11h 04m |
| March | 6:33 AM | 6:31 PM | 5:59 PM – 6:31 PM | 32 min | 11h 58m |
| April | 5:54 AM | 6:53 PM | 6:20 PM – 6:53 PM | 33 min | 12h 59m |
| May | 5:25 AM | 7:14 PM | 6:40 PM – 7:14 PM | 34 min | 13h 49m |
| June | 5:16 AM | 7:31 PM | 6:55 PM – 7:31 PM | 36 min | 14h 15m |
| July | 5:27 AM | 7:31 PM | 6:55 PM – 7:31 PM | 36 min | 14h 03m |
| August | 5:48 AM | 7:07 PM | 6:34 PM – 7:07 PM | 33 min | 13h 20m |
| September | 6:07 AM | 6:29 PM | 5:57 PM – 6:29 PM | 32 min | 12h 22m |
| October | 6:27 AM | 5:50 PM | 5:17 PM – 5:50 PM | 33 min | 11h 23m |
| November | 6:52 AM | 5:23 PM | 4:48 PM – 5:23 PM | 35 min | 10h 30m |
| December | 7:17 AM | 5:20 PM | 4:43 PM – 5:20 PM | 37 min | 10h 03m |
Golden hour is the stretch just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the low sun turns hard daylight into soft, warm, directional light — the most flattering natural light for portraits, real estate, product and landscape photography. Blue hour follows sunset (and precedes sunrise): a short window of deep, even blue that's ideal for twilight real estate shots and skylines. Both windows change with latitude and season, which is why this page computes them live instead of guessing.
Kanyon Studio is a San Diego photography and video studio — golden hour is our home field. Brand shoots, products, real estate and portraits, planned around exactly this light.
